Weekend B.O. April 5-7 ('Evil' Lives!)

Filmgoers wanted to be grossed out this weekend with Evil Dead taking the top spot with $26 million.

The over-the-top gory remake of Sam Raimi’s original 1981 film performed well beyond expectations
while last week’s No. 1 film G.I. Joe
Retaliation came in second with $21.1
million.

The 3D reissue of Steven
Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, which looked at first like it was going to be second this
weekend, came in fourth with just over $18
million, while DreamWorks’ The Croods.
still showing legs. coming in third, tying with G.I. Joe with $21.1 million.

But how did Tyler Perry’s
Temptation do this weekend? As expected, it dropped by some 53% down to
sixth place earning $10 million.

Usually Perry’s films take a significant drop during the second
week of release, though over 50% is rather steep and goes back to the point I made
last week that 1) people who really want to see his films usually come out the
first week of release and/or 2) bad of word of mouth.

And during the past week, the film has been criticized many
times for condoning rape and the whole final twist, which, even though it's been
the source of outrage in several articles this past week, I still won’t reveal, since there are those out there who haven’t seen the film yet.

Whether those
two factors were the cause of most of the negativity towards the film, you tell
us.